- From your words I deduce that you believe in this "professional retraining".
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 10:08 am
Víctor Küppers hardly needs an introduction. He is one of the best-known speakers and trainers in this country, or at least the most enthusiastic. He knows a lot about being "excited about life" or, in other words, living with enthusiasm . That's why we stole a little of his time to chat about motivation and to tell us what he thinks about the state of education in Spain, about entrepreneurship, training for entrepreneurs, etc. If you need a dose of adrenaline, stay, because it will surely make you think.
To start, let's get a little motivation with one of his talks. On Youtube , you can find hundreds of videos about his conferences.
- There is a phrase on your website that particularly caught my attention. It is a Chinese proverb. “The man whose face does not smile should not open a shop.” Does it bother you when people do not smile?
- If we applied this criterion in Spain, hundreds of shops would close. At the very least, when you go to a shop, you expect that there is human relations work, at least that the feeling is good.
- Do you run a small business to do your shopping and errands or do you shop in large stores?
- Always small shops. (He says firmly, without hesitation). Where I live, in Camprodon, (Girona), there are no shopping centres.
- With the crisis in the retail sector upon us, affecting street shops in particular, how can we encourage small business owners to get ahead and to go "excited about life" ?
There is a general feeling of discouragement, there is a lot of competition. Black Friday, e-commerce, discounts from the big chains... that destroys them. But discouragement does not allow us to devote that energy to react. We have to be aware that the Internet is here to stay and we have to adapt. But I will tell you that I am seeing more and more streets that are becoming open shopping centres and this is very positive. Where I live, as many streets are being pedestrianised, the shops are joining together and forming a small shopping centre at street level.
Retailers have to join forces and realise that they have human relations as a competitive advantage. When you buy online you press a button and the human relationship is lost. On the other hand, my fruit seller, for example, knows the fruit I like, if one day I get home late, she saves it for me, she even brings it to my house. This is fantastic and we are not valuing it. We have to think of a service so that the customer consumes and feels comfortable in the shops. I am not an expert in this, but what I see is that there are shops, such as a wine shop near my house, that have been encouraged to do wine tastings, and have even set up a reading club. In short, you have to be creative to get ahead.
"We have been led to believe that being an entrepreneur is having your own company"
- Of course. I used to work in consulting and in this sector you have to be constantly thinking: what can I do better? How can I attract clients? Instead of complaining, you have to have a proactive attitude. Of list of marketing managers course, if I have my business on a street that is not suitable, a high price, a product that is sold by more shops, I have to reinvent myself. But I'll tell you one thing, we don't train, we don't prepare and that's where it all begins. We have been made to believe that we can all do everything, but we don't prepare for it. We have been made to believe that being an entrepreneur is being our own boss. It is not true that we can always achieve everything, there are limitations and we must know them.
- Do you think there is a boom in entrepreneurship?
- I see it in my students, now they all want to be sales managers, marketing managers, marketing directors and make money from it. I hardly meet a student who tells me that they want to be a salesperson. Not all of us have to be self-employed. We can be very entrepreneurial by working for someone else. Being an entrepreneur is an attitude . Being an entrepreneur does not always mean having your own company, but it means that you are a person who wants to innovate, do different things, that you like your job and that you want to keep improving and looking forward. Now it seems that one is not successful if you do not have your own company, but being an entrepreneur means being proactive, being a non-conformist.
- You yourself decided to start your own business, how did you do it?
- Very scared. I had to get out of my comfort zone. I wanted to have a more reasonable schedule, to be able to spend more time with my family, to have more free time... It took me a couple of years to get out of my comfort zone, because of course, nobody wants an uncomfortable sofa in their house! I got ahead with a proactive attitude, training a lot and making a business plan.
Interview and Entrepreneurs Guide 2020 with Victor Kuppers
"Living happy or bitter is a decision"
- You are one of the most well-known and prestigious trainers of the last decade. By framing a period in time, you are known for the attitude effect. Does it make a difference and why?
- Attitude is essential. Joy, excitement, enthusiasm...we need to remember things that are essential: the importance of family, of being kind, of having hopes. In addition, attitude is your responsibility. You can do things to live with more joy. Living happily or bitterly is a decision. It is also a struggle against the current, because sometimes in life there are dramas: the death of a family member, not making ends meet. These are personal dramas that make it difficult for us to aspire to live with joy.
- But how do we manage to live with joy?
- As I was saying, it's a struggle against the current. We surround ourselves with all the bad things and we have to start putting things into perspective. At home we practice what I call "reasonable venting." One also has the right to vent. We time ourselves, ten minutes for the complaint, at most. Then we move on, otherwise the energy is wasted.
- And how is the energy level of the teams you meet in the companies you visit and the employees you train?
- They are emotionally incapable of being bosses. I find profiles that focus on demanding and controlling instead of helping and motivating, which is what a boss has to do.
- Your job is closely linked to sales, to the commercial role. This is one of the most sensitive tasks within the company, and also one of the least valued. What can we do to change this?
- Those of us who are salespeople are to blame. It is not a vocation, it is easy to become a salesperson, but there are plenty of cheap salespeople who label the group. The problem is that nobody reads, nobody prepares, everyone relies on their own words.
- Tell me three characteristics that a good salesperson should have for you.
To start, let's get a little motivation with one of his talks. On Youtube , you can find hundreds of videos about his conferences.
- There is a phrase on your website that particularly caught my attention. It is a Chinese proverb. “The man whose face does not smile should not open a shop.” Does it bother you when people do not smile?
- If we applied this criterion in Spain, hundreds of shops would close. At the very least, when you go to a shop, you expect that there is human relations work, at least that the feeling is good.
- Do you run a small business to do your shopping and errands or do you shop in large stores?
- Always small shops. (He says firmly, without hesitation). Where I live, in Camprodon, (Girona), there are no shopping centres.
- With the crisis in the retail sector upon us, affecting street shops in particular, how can we encourage small business owners to get ahead and to go "excited about life" ?
There is a general feeling of discouragement, there is a lot of competition. Black Friday, e-commerce, discounts from the big chains... that destroys them. But discouragement does not allow us to devote that energy to react. We have to be aware that the Internet is here to stay and we have to adapt. But I will tell you that I am seeing more and more streets that are becoming open shopping centres and this is very positive. Where I live, as many streets are being pedestrianised, the shops are joining together and forming a small shopping centre at street level.
Retailers have to join forces and realise that they have human relations as a competitive advantage. When you buy online you press a button and the human relationship is lost. On the other hand, my fruit seller, for example, knows the fruit I like, if one day I get home late, she saves it for me, she even brings it to my house. This is fantastic and we are not valuing it. We have to think of a service so that the customer consumes and feels comfortable in the shops. I am not an expert in this, but what I see is that there are shops, such as a wine shop near my house, that have been encouraged to do wine tastings, and have even set up a reading club. In short, you have to be creative to get ahead.
"We have been led to believe that being an entrepreneur is having your own company"
- Of course. I used to work in consulting and in this sector you have to be constantly thinking: what can I do better? How can I attract clients? Instead of complaining, you have to have a proactive attitude. Of list of marketing managers course, if I have my business on a street that is not suitable, a high price, a product that is sold by more shops, I have to reinvent myself. But I'll tell you one thing, we don't train, we don't prepare and that's where it all begins. We have been made to believe that we can all do everything, but we don't prepare for it. We have been made to believe that being an entrepreneur is being our own boss. It is not true that we can always achieve everything, there are limitations and we must know them.
- Do you think there is a boom in entrepreneurship?
- I see it in my students, now they all want to be sales managers, marketing managers, marketing directors and make money from it. I hardly meet a student who tells me that they want to be a salesperson. Not all of us have to be self-employed. We can be very entrepreneurial by working for someone else. Being an entrepreneur is an attitude . Being an entrepreneur does not always mean having your own company, but it means that you are a person who wants to innovate, do different things, that you like your job and that you want to keep improving and looking forward. Now it seems that one is not successful if you do not have your own company, but being an entrepreneur means being proactive, being a non-conformist.
- You yourself decided to start your own business, how did you do it?
- Very scared. I had to get out of my comfort zone. I wanted to have a more reasonable schedule, to be able to spend more time with my family, to have more free time... It took me a couple of years to get out of my comfort zone, because of course, nobody wants an uncomfortable sofa in their house! I got ahead with a proactive attitude, training a lot and making a business plan.
Interview and Entrepreneurs Guide 2020 with Victor Kuppers
"Living happy or bitter is a decision"
- You are one of the most well-known and prestigious trainers of the last decade. By framing a period in time, you are known for the attitude effect. Does it make a difference and why?
- Attitude is essential. Joy, excitement, enthusiasm...we need to remember things that are essential: the importance of family, of being kind, of having hopes. In addition, attitude is your responsibility. You can do things to live with more joy. Living happily or bitterly is a decision. It is also a struggle against the current, because sometimes in life there are dramas: the death of a family member, not making ends meet. These are personal dramas that make it difficult for us to aspire to live with joy.
- But how do we manage to live with joy?
- As I was saying, it's a struggle against the current. We surround ourselves with all the bad things and we have to start putting things into perspective. At home we practice what I call "reasonable venting." One also has the right to vent. We time ourselves, ten minutes for the complaint, at most. Then we move on, otherwise the energy is wasted.
- And how is the energy level of the teams you meet in the companies you visit and the employees you train?
- They are emotionally incapable of being bosses. I find profiles that focus on demanding and controlling instead of helping and motivating, which is what a boss has to do.
- Your job is closely linked to sales, to the commercial role. This is one of the most sensitive tasks within the company, and also one of the least valued. What can we do to change this?
- Those of us who are salespeople are to blame. It is not a vocation, it is easy to become a salesperson, but there are plenty of cheap salespeople who label the group. The problem is that nobody reads, nobody prepares, everyone relies on their own words.
- Tell me three characteristics that a good salesperson should have for you.